Letter to our Legislators:
Ladies and Gentlemen of the Legislature of the State of New
Mexico
We in the film industry want to first thank you for your
past support and plead with you for more support. The film industry is not just a pastime
or hobby. It is a viable
income-generating, tax-generating industry that has brought billions of dollars
into NM and created thousands of jobs.
We also want to be loud and clear that there is an
imminent threat that will be the swift death of the film industry in NM if you
legislators don’t act boldly and swiftly.
As stated in an article entitled TURF WAR in The New Mexican on February
21: “CA is now offering a tax credit of 20% to films that cost less than $75
million and a credit of 25% to independent productions in the $1 million to $10
million range and to any TV series that relocates to CA”.
As legislators you have been placed in positions of
leadership by the voters of NM.
Right now you hold the fate of a billion-dollar industry’s future or
demise in your hands. Your next
move on this issue will result in either the loss of thousands of jobs (perhaps
including your own) or more growth, new jobs and new revenue to NM. In order to compete with the new
incentives being offered by CA, New Mexico must come up with a better incentive
program than we now have.
Ladies and Gentleman, put yourself in the shoes of an
executive producer in CA:
Do I go to NM to shoot my project and get a 25% rebate in which I have to
uproot my key people, taking them away from their families in these trying
times, and in addition, pay for travel, lodging, food etc. or do I keep my key
people happy and allow them to stay home with their families, sleep and eat in
their own homes and receive 20% to 25% from my own home state? It is a simple, no-brainer
conclusion: you keep your people happy and support your home state. So that production isn’t coming to NM
unless you can offer a much better deal.
You, our legislators, need to make coming to NM much more
attractive and profitable to the production companies. Mr. Eric Witt stated in the TURF WAR
article: “ I don’t think it will have a huge material bearing in films that come
to NM because the incentives are only one reason films come here.” Ladies and gentleman, look around. The incentives are 90%+ of the reason
films come to NM, along with cheap labor and cheap background players. Scenery and locations are only a very
very small part of films coming to NM.
Let’s be realistic, it’s all about the money. Mr. Witt is correct if you want NM to
go back five years or more where one or two films came through NM per
year. If NM wants to continue the
pace of the last two years and grow even stronger and create even more jobs, NM
must address these new threats immediately.
Our request is three
fold.
- Defeat House Bill 725. To pass it is
suicide.
- Amend the present legislation to increase
the 25% tax rebate to 30%. Add a
40% rebate on the gross receipts tax spent by production companies with a
budget of $1 million or more.
This increase in rebate is given to production companies that meet a
minimum hire rate of 80% NM hires on their production. If they spend $50,000 in gross
receipts tax, you rebate $20,000 but get to keep $30,000. Now multiply that times a
hundred productions, that’s $3 million in gross receipts tax NM gets to keep.
Not to mention the economic impact those hundred productions will have on
NM.
- Create a minimum wage for background
players on all productions, i.e. $10.00 per hour. Presently there are some companies
paying $7.00 per hour or less, in essence slave wages. Increasing the wage per hour will
still be within the wages earned by CA background so it is not a leap or a
danger increasing this amount but it will increase the amount of tax paid to
NM.
If you have 300 people on a set and you institute #2, you will add 60
more jobs per production. If you
have 5 productions working at the same time, which we have had in the immediate
past, you will create 300 more jobs.
If you institute all 3 items above or similar programs, you will continue
to have growth in the film industry in NM and continue to create jobs, not lose
jobs and lose an entire industry.
Would you rather create 300 more jobs every two months, or lose those
jobs and a couple thousand more, adding more on the rolls of
unemployment?
These suggestions will help NM to continue the growth of
the film industry and increase jobs on each production by 20%. All states (not to mention countries!)
are now facing shortfalls. Now is the time to be forward thinking on how to
create jobs, bring in revenue and taxes to NM. Isn’t that what your priority is right
now, creating new jobs, not losing industries over pettiness and squabbling over
partisanship or a couple of percentage points.
If the film industry isn’t saved you will have a no-win situation. The loss of thousands of jobs and
increased unemployment rolls by approximately 5,000 people. Over the next 2 to 4
years, you will also see the loss of NM residents. If employers and employees
lose the ability to pursue their careers here they will move to where the action
is.
Please act now and stop the demise of the film industry in NM. Push to allow this industry to grow and
become a backbone of NM. Oil and
gas revenues have shown they are not going to be New Mexico’s answer for the
future. The film industry could be
the answer. Our livelihood, our
lives depend on your votes.
Thank you for your time and consideration.